One of the major barriers to reducing the amount of preventable blindness in the world is a lack of trained health care practitioners, says pediatric ophthalmologist Omondi Nyong’o, M.D. That is why Dr. Nyong’o and his colleagues at PAMF who perform medical missionary work are excited that a philanthropic gift has made a $2,500 set of eye surgery instruments and a $9,000 surgical camera available to them.

The doctors plan to use the surgical instruments and camera to instruct local health care providers in needy communities around the world.

“For people in many parts of the world, blindness is a condition that can destroy the economic and social prospects of an individual and create a tremendous burden for that individual’s family and community,” Dr. Nyong’o says. “If we can teach medical students in these countries how to treat and prevent blindness, we can improve the prospects of individuals who might otherwise be blind and have a significant impact on their communities.”

As a not-for-profit entity, PAMF helps its donors make a real difference in the health and well being of underserved populations. “Dr. Nyong’o’s medical missionary work presented us with an opportunity to direct a philanthropic gift to support saving the vision of hundreds of needy children, as well as furthering medical education in a developing country,” Anne Jigger, vice president of philanthropy for the Palo Alto Division, says.
Dr. Nyong’o has taken the instruments and camera with him to Tampico, Mexico, where this month he is offering vision consults to around 350 children per day, as well as treatment in cases where blindness can either be cured or avoided with eye surgery.

“We partner with a local medical school – Montemorelos University in Nuevo Leon, Mexico – that helps us prescreen children to identify whom we may be able to help,” Dr. Nyong’o says. “Students and residents at the school also assist in the consultation clinics and provide follow-up care for patients after we leave.”

The eye is a very small organ, which means that an ophthalmologist performing eye surgery typically can only instruct one medical student or resident at a time. With a surgical camera, however, a group of students can observe the surgery on a computer screen in the operating room. In addition, the camera can record the footage to a computer hard drive so that students can replay the intraocular examination later and study it in more detail. It even allows tiny structures inside the eye, such as the retina, that are difficult for inexperienced observers to see, to be illuminated in high detail on the computer monitor.

“I was honored that a philanthropic gift enabled us to acquire the camera, because it is a considerable investment in improving care for future patients, not just those who may need treatment now,” Dr. Nyong’o says. “When you can help turn a local physician-student into an ophthalmologist who then returns to practice in his or her community, you’ve lowered a major barrier to effective prevention of blindness for a community of people.”
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